Enchilada shell is the term used in this description for a round or oval tortilla which is rolled to form a cylinder and then fried in this shape in a suitable cooking oil until it is crisp and will retain its cylindrical shape.
The enchilada shell is a new product developed to eliminate the traditional stage of pan frying a flat tortilla in the preparation of an enchilada. In order to fry a tortilla in a cylindrical shape to make an enchilada shell, it was found preferably to wrap it around a perforated metal cylinder and then insert the resultant assembly into another perforated metal cylinder of larger diameter. In this manner the tortilla is held rolled beween the two cylinders during the frying operation. The perforations are required to permit good contact between the tortilla and the cooking oil and to facilitate the escape of moisture in the form of steam.
To carry out the assembly operation of a the cylinders and tortilla by hand was found to be too labor intensive, inefficient and costly to be commercially viable. Thus there arose a need for an apparatus which would automatically assembly the tortilla and two cylinders for subsequent automatic feeding into a fryer and final automatic disassembly. With the automation of the assembly step, labor costs could be reduced and a food manufacturer would gain an economical means for putting to advantageous use the technique of frying enchilada shells encased in inner and outer cooking cylinders.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for automatically effecting the assembly of a tortilla wrapped between an inner and outer cooking cylinders in the preparation of an enchilada shell.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such completed assemblies at a rate greater than that possible by manual methods of assembly.